Amir Temur cathedral mosque (among local people – Bibikhanym cathedral mosque) is considered as one of the great and grandiose complexes in Central Asia.
The historian, Sharafiddin Ali Yazdiy wrote as “On the fourth day of holy Ramadan in 801(may 10, in 1399 AD), Amir Temur chose the best place of the capital for the construction of the mosque”. Famous masters and architects made the project of the majestic building and began to lay its foundation in a holy time…”
Abu Takhirkhoja wrote in his work “Samaria” about the history of the mosque as: “The cathedral mosque of Amir Temur Kuragan is situated at the northern part of the city, near the gate Hazreti Shah (Dari Ohanin). When Amir Temur conquered India, he brought gold and valuable jewelries as trophies by ninety one elephants and desired to build a cathedral mosque in Samarkand”.
The total area of Bibikhanym cathedral mosque is 167x109m. And minarets at the corners, these minarets have recently been reconstructed. Due to the earthquake the mosque slowly destroyed, only the lower part of the north-western minaret is preserved and its height is 18.2 m.
For long ages, one of the settlements near the mosque is called “Yakka minor” (Single minaret) to the honor of this minaret.
The foundation of the cathedral mosque was made of boulder and the walls were made of burnt brick. The thickness of the walls is 4.4-5m.
At the entrance stairs. General information.
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The inscription “The great khagan Amir Temur Kuragan, son of Amir Taragay ordered to build the cathedral mosque in 801” was written above the arch of the mosque. “The construction ended in 806 (1404 AD)” – this pattern was written on the ornament above the gate of the cathedral mosque. The gate of the cathedral mosque is double aperture gate made of the mixture of bronze, copper and zinc, and the painters made beautiful floral and vegetative ornaments on the surface of the gate. There is a distich above the portal. The meaning of this distich is following: “The dwelling of creatures is all hypocrisy, falsehood and passions. Everything is concentrated at the threshold of the Lord`s house and only there”.
The cathedral mosque was given one of the greatest portals of that era. Its arch was flanked with powerful pylons, with minarets up to 50m in height. The minarets were higher than the portal. The portal is very majestic, and there is an arch with 18,8 m large in the center of the portal. At the inside of the arch there is a smaller arch – second arch. At the pattern above the gate, the construction date of the mosque and the family tree of Amir Temur were written. Today`s entrance gate was made master Avazi Samarkandiy of Samarkand. There are circular stairs at both wings at the inside of the entrance portal. These stairs lead to the rimmed archway square and through the archway to the minarets.
The large surface of the portal is decorated with luster mosaics and motley, shield shaped ornaments.
In front of the portal. Informing.
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Until the reconstruction-repair works the mosque consisted of 6 separate parts, at the head side of the courtyard, there was a building with lofty portal and mihrab, at the sideboards two small version of this building, at the foot side of the courtyard there was a bisected portal of the mosque and a remained minaret at the north-western part. In old ages these parts had connected with three striped white marble columns and verandas with arches, and four hundred cupolas on the roof. The 480columns had existed with 3.5 m in distance with pediments. The columns had been decorated with carved ornaments and the upper parts of them were covered with colorful mosaics and vegetative and floral scripts (now they are being unearthed). During archeological researches, columns, pediments and the upper part of the columns which decorated with colorful mosaics were found. Four verandas have their own entrance-exit gates. The surface of the mosque`s courtyard faced with masonry.
There is a majestic book rest made of marble in the middle of the courtyard, at first this book rest were in the main building, with the risk of collapsing of the grandiose cupola it was moved to the courtyard in 1875. The book rest was decorated with graceful lines, Arabic vegetative scripts and floral ornaments. The book rest was made on the basis of the order of Ulugbek Mirzo, the grandson of Amir Temur in the middle of XV century. The inscription “The great sultan, generous khagan, the patron of the religion, the guard of Khanafiya sect, noble sultan, son of sultan, Commander of the Faithful Ulugbek Karagan” on the surface of the book rest is written. The main building with mihrab of the cathedral mosque gives impression about the architectural styles of Amir Temur and Timurids period.
There is a portal in the frontal part of main building, arch in the center, and multi angular minarets at the corners. The room behind the portal is plain, but decorated with the ensemble of majestic geometrical shapes (cubic shaped prism, drum and dome above the octahedral part of the room). Cubic shaped prism is the main structure of the building and its sideboards are 14,6 m. There is octahedral prism including the ensemble of archway running through the wall of the room above the cubic shaped prism.
The holy verses from Koran were written on the circular surface of the dome and its surface glazed with turquoise mosaics and hidden connected with the dome. Its entrance parts were covered with motley mosaics like the entrance portal, the clay bricks laid vertically, colorful glazed bricks laid erect. The shapes of the main ornaments lay with obvious lapis lazuli bricks and their joints were filled with blue bricks and white stones.
Though two small buildings at the sideboards of the mosque are small versions of the mosque, they differ from one another with plain ornaments and rimmed domes. During interior finishing, as well as artistic decoration, bee cells wallpapers (papier-mâché) were widely used.
Multi angular stars, the pattern with three striped of carved inscription are decorated with nice floral ornaments, the lines carved from limestone. Though the monument lay in ruins, it attracted people with its various architectural shapes and graceful décors. Its various ornaments inform about the skill, delicate taste and the experience of the architects and masters of that period.
During independence years, great deals of reconstruction-repair works were carried out in Amir Temur (Bibikhanym) cathedral mosque.
At the courtyard of the monument. Full information.
